Monday, November 09, 2009
up a tree!
Man spends 3 days in tree during Vietnam storm
By TRAN VAN MINH (AP) ? 2 days ago
HANOI, Vietnam ? The 69-year-old watchman couldn't swim so when
Tropical Storm Mirinae sparked a flash flood he ran, shimmied up a
tree and hung on ? for three nights and two days.
After several failed attempts to rescue Phan Cao Chuc, a military
helicopter was able to reach him Thursday by lowering a cable with a
soldier down to grab him and save him from a disaster that has killed
at least 108 people in central Vietnam.
But the rescue wasn't without drama. The first cable snapped, tossing
the soldier into the 16-foot (5-meter) waters still raging waters
below. He managed to swim to safety, but Chuc was now spooked and
clung even tighter to the tree. Only after another cable was shot into
the tree by a spear, was another soldier finally able to reach him.
"The man initially refused to go, fearing he could be dropped into the
river," said Lt. Nguyen Duc Vinh. "It took me 20 minutes to persuade
him that it was safe to go with me."
Chuc survived by lodging himself between two branches and catching
rainwater in his construction helmet. Soldiers on the ground could not
reach him, but on Wednesday managed to at least deliver biscuits, milk
and a mobile phone to him through a pulley system anchored to the
tree. They then called him and offered calming words of encouragement.
"It's a miracle that this old man survived on rain water for two days
and three nights in the tree," Vinh said by telephone from the Central
Highlands province of Gia Lai.
Chuc worked as a guard at a hydroelectric plant that's under
construction in Gia Lai province in the Central Highlands, where five
people died from the flooding. Despite rising floodwaters, he stayed
to stand watch over the equipment. But when the swollen river suddenly
jumped its banks, Chuc and a colleague were trapped. The other man,
who could swim, managed to reach dry land. He then sought help for
Chuc.
The storm smacked ashore Monday and its death toll was at 108 in
central Vietnam by Friday.
In the hardest-hit province of Phu Yen, 72 people were killed and 11
were reported missing. In neighboring Binh Dinh province, 18 deaths
were reported.
The storm also injured 66 people, destroyed or damaged more than
27,000 homes and ravaged some 74,000 acres (30,000 hectares) of rice
and other crops, according the national committee for flood and storm
control.
The committee made an initial damage estimate of 2.1 trillion dong
($115 million), but the number is likely to rise after a more complete
assessment of losses.
Central Vietnam, one of the communist country's poorest regions, has
been battered by two rounds of storms and flooding in just over a
month. Tropical Storm Ketsana killed more than 160 people in the
region in late September.
In the Philippines, Ketsana and two other storms killed more than 900.
Hotmail: Trusted email with Microsoft's powerful SPAM protection. Sign up now.
